Momaya Press

Momaya Press Awards Ceremony 2011

On 30 November 2011, the Soho Theatre hosted approximately 80 writers, judges, readers and actors who participated in the Momaya Press Awards Ceremony 2011. The event included advice on publishing from industry experts, actors reading the winning stories, and writers speaking about the inspiration for their stories. Momaya Press thanks everyone who took time out of their busy lives to attend.  We hope the following account of the evening will inspired you to submit you short story to our 2012 Competition: Heat (accepting entries now until 30 April 2012).

Momaya Press Judges at the 2011 Ceremony

The common experience of writing is a solitary affair.   Whether they are actually alone in their home or sitting in a public space, writers throw their words into the void of a computer screen and notebooks. Most writers rarely experience the pleasure of seeing their words in print, and more rarely still, hear from their readers.

Maya Cointreau and Monisha Saldanha founded Momaya Press to redress this balance. We provide a forum for writers to get feedback on their writing through our website, and we sponsor an annual awards ceremony where writers get to hear their works read aloud by actors and meet the judges who selected their work for publication. We encourage the audience to try their hand at writing their own stories.

Momaya Press is building a community of readers and writers around the world, to inspire people to express themselves and to support each other. Most of our waking hours are spent doing things that are functional. It’s a celebration of life to take time out to write a piece of fiction that exists for no purpose other than as an expression. Our own unique, individual, never-to-be-replicated contribution to the world in which we live. A piece of writing can change how we perceive the world. By changing how we think, we then change how we live our lives. Through our individual contributions, we can collectively shape the world we all experience every day – we hope for the better!

Read more about the Momaya Press Awards Ceremony 2011